This is a follow-up to my concejtures about water changes in general. I have made a spreadsheet that allows users to test several water-change scenarios based on their current data. Also, it allows users with contaminated water sources to see how beneficial/nonbeneficial particular water change schedules are. Moreover, this spreadsheet was inspired by TheAquaTools.com and is meant to be a general tool as well. Unlike many of my recent spreadsheets, it is an Excel 97-03 file and thus should be read by most programs.

Hm that calculator you have linked to is really not impressing me.... if you were able to enter your stock/ tank size and it'll calculate that's do-able for anyone. But initial dirt amount in ppm and daily added dirt amount.....Not so helpful for the avg person I liked your other tools better then this one.

The other one is the one that I was not impressed with either. Sorry about the confusion.

MOA

Angel079

03-10-2010 03:59 PM

I see what you mean now. I had used the link up top; I honestly didn't notice the fine print at the bottom where the actual Texas was kinda done already :-) Sorry but that

MOA

03-10-2010 07:26 PM

No problem :-D No harm done.

Thanks for looking at it. What did ya think? Suggestions for improvement?

MOA

Angel079

03-10-2010 07:35 PM

What a question MOA how much of you stuff have I been reading now and like it :-)
And I can back up the way this calculates putting in my data for all current 5 tanks what I already knew was backed up again by this sheet; I could do less w/c. Which I actually recently started a discussion here and started doing my 55g every 2nd Sat rather then each Sat (no NO peaks nadda).

Edit: One thought coming to mind (which I think can't be done) it will not account for factors like heavily stocked or heavily planted tanks which does make a difference obvious (which is why I can get away with doing fewer w/c in the Jungle 55g)

MOA

03-11-2010 01:51 AM

Hello Again,

Actually, it does account for the effects of plants, etc, but only in retrospect. That is, it creates daily rates of increase/decrease based on your old water change schedule and your current (normal) substance levels. Thus, it basically uses the following logic: If your aquarium normally has X amount of a substance and your previous water change schedule was Y, then your daily rate must be positive if the normal level exceeds the amount added by the tap water and the daily rate must be negative if your normal level is below the amount added by the tap water.

The net result is that you can not plug in something like "I want to add 20 plants," but you can buy the plants, complete a few water changes, and measure the result by plugging the new water test results into the spreadsheet. The differences in the daily rates will show the effect of the plants. No less, that is kinda tedious and...pointless.

As it stands now, the spreadsheet is designed to only handle the effect of changing your cleaning schedule, no more or less. Sorry for the inconvenience. :-(

MOA

1077

03-11-2010 03:41 AM

My thinking leads me to believe for the average hobbyist, spread sheets are confusing.
TDS meter would be much simpler to keep track of Total dissolved solids and or conductivity of the water if one was so inclined.

MOA

03-11-2010 10:55 AM

1077,

Granted, but TDS meters and test kits cannot predict how changes to the cleaning schedule will affect such quantities. The ability to predict is where an understanding of the process, in detail, comes in. The spreadsheet is not really meant as a "do this"; it is meant as a "we now understand this." Make sense?

MOA

1077

03-12-2010 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOA
(Post 342259)

1077,

Granted, but TDS meters and test kits cannot predict how changes to the cleaning schedule will affect such quantities. The ability to predict is where an understanding of the process, in detail, comes in. The spreadsheet is not really meant as a "do this"; it is meant as a "we now understand this." Make sense?

MOA

Not particularly.
If one accepts that Total dissolved solids are comprised of everything in the aquarium capable of going into soluable form and that this can include By products of fish waste, and fish foods,, Then I would expect to measure a difference Before and after Water changes through Dilution of TDS and or TSS.
May not be able to predict how much of a change,,but I would hope the change would be for the better with regards to the fishes